Editor's note: this article originally
appeared in the Interlaken Historical Society Newsletter in January
2007. It is reprinted here with additional pictures and other data
added.

In
looking for pictures for the 2007 Historical Society calendar the
committee selected fires as one of the pages. Did we have enough
pictures to do a page, what fires were they, what did we know of them?
Such questions quickly send researchers to the photograph collection
index and picture files, the newspaper indexes, and then to the
microfilm collection to find further information on the rest of the
story. We found four pictures, a newspaper article and its accompanying
headline.

Nelle
D. Bradley’s January 1952 article “So As By Fire” details the December
1880 fire that in one long night destroyed multiple buildings on both
the east and west sides of Main Street. It is interesting that we don’t
have any pictures from this 1880 fire in the Society collections. What
we did find were pictures of the 1891 American House (Gambee House) fire,
the 1916 Weager Mill fire, the 1939 Robinson Hotel fire and a newspaper
clipping of the O’Malley Hotel fire at Kidders in 1972.

Shown above is an undated slide of the

Clarence Miller Barn Fire.

Does anyone know more about this fire?

No doubt many people reading this article recall where they were in 1972
when they heard that O’Malleys had burned. The stories of the good times
at the hotel would fill an entire newsletter and we would certainly
enjoy reading some of them.

“About 3:10 Tuesday morning last the fire alarm was sounded…” so begins
the 1916 article on the Weager Mill Fire at the corner of Main and
Orchard Streets. How often has the sound of fire bells and sirens or the
sight of flashing lights rushing down the street made us stop and wonder
who, what and where?

Under
the main headline of “The Weager Mill Burned,” and set in smaller type
were the lines, “Several Buildings Destroyed, Others Ruined. Loss About
$10,000.” The early morning blaze on April 18, 1916 forever changed the
southeast corner of Main and Orchard Streets.

The
original building on the corner “was formerly a Methodist church, moved
here from south of Lodi village.” This move was done by Ryno & Almy in
1866 and used as a machine shop in addition to their foundry. More
recently the buildings were owned by Ryno & Longstreet and later by
others. They served as machine shop, basket factory and finally a feed
mill. The mill machinery was owned and run by S. D. Grove, who “had no
insurance and his loss on machinery will be about $500.”

The
article continues with details of losses by people who had belongings
stored in the various buildings, and the nearby homes. A barn to the
east and damage to the Longstreet house were reported. The “Hancy’s
house was little damaged, the Longstreet house shielding it.” Also saved
was the barn of Yager & Halstead. The fire was so hot that it broke
windows and blistered the paint of the then Reformed Church Parsonage,
across Orchard Street on the northeast corner.

Many
of us have seen the hand pumper proudly owned and displayed by our
Interlaken Volunteer Fire Department. It was used to pump water from
reservoirs around town. So it was used that night, men working hard to
save buildings by raising and lowering the handles on either side. “Just
as the barn fell in and the Longstreet house was afire…the reservoir
gave out and [the] hand engine had to be moved to the creek west of the
church. The men were about tuckered out after pumping hard for an hour
and it looked as if the whole south side of the street was doomed.” The
houses and St. Francis Solanus church were saved by the timely arrival
of the Trumansburg automobile fire engine and 18 firemen. They soon had
the situation under control when members of Ithaca Fire Co. No. 1
arrived. This hardy group of men had made the trip from Ithaca to
Interlaken in 35 minutes including a stop in Trumansburg to refuel.

Once
the site was cleared several new homes were built on that corner. Facing
Main Street was the home owned by Anna Slaght in the 1920s, later by
Willard & Evelyn Georgia. Around the corner, facing Orchard Street are
the homes of Ernest & Grace Hildebrant now owned by their daughter
Faith, Edna Johnson’s home (now Bob Holman’s), the Larsen’s home would
appear to be the rebuilt Longstreet home. Also new on the block was Mrs.
Pritchard’s home, now home to the O’Donnells.

One of the houses built after the 1916 Weager Mill fire.
1920s photo courtesy of Howard Slaght 2005

St. Francis Solanus church was saved by the arrival of the
Trumansburg Fire Department. In the same issue of the Interlaken
Review as the description of the fire is this card of
appreciation dated Trumansburg, April 19, 1916:

The members
of the congregation of St. Francis Solanus church wishes to thank the
Interlaken and Trumansburg fire departments for saving the church
property from destruction by fire, and also one company of the Ithaca
Fire Department for their good will incoming to help, had any thing
remained for them to do. Very sincerely,

T. J.
Harrington, Pastor.

Moving back in time to February 1891, Farmer Village had settled into
the many new brick buildings which fronted on Main Street following the
December 1880 fire. The headlines from the February 14, 1891 Farmer
Review sums up the situation following the hue and cry of “Fire”
from the previous Tuesday evening.

This
fire, discovered about 7:15 in the evening first appeared on the roof of
the Gambee House. The newspaper report notes that “Farmer Hall was
nearly full of men awaiting election returns, and they were soon on the
scene, some attempting to stay the flames, others removing property to a
place of safety.” The article goes on to describe the fury of the fire,
the attempts made by many people to both control the fire and the
methods used to prevent other buildings from burning.

Within
30 minutes of being discovered “the house was a fire from cellar up and
had communicated to Dr. A.M. Mann’s wooden block on the south…nearly all
the contents of this building were carried out.” Four businesses were
housed in that wooden block building: George Mosher’s harness shop, J.D.
Wiggins’ jewelry store, M. Chandler’s paint shop and W. L. Witt’s
blacksmith shop.

The next building south was W. E. Peterson’s residence. The
volunteers covered the north side of the house with carpets and hoped
the space between the Mann block and the house would help stop the fire.
It was a hard fought battle, and at one time appeared lost. Several men
“stuck to the peak and fought for all they were worth and gained control
again, saving not only the house but the rest of the buildings. When the
damage amounts were tallied it was noted that Mr. “Peterson’s damage is
fully covered by insurance. The adjusters were here yesterday and
settled with him.”

As shown in
the picture taken the day after, carpets were also used to save the
buildings on the North side of the hotel. “While all the hard work was
going on south, the men on the north had their hands full to save
Collver’s barber shop and hotel barn.”

An
on-going debate prior to this 1891 fire was the need for a fire
department and fire fighting equipment. The second paragraph of the
article makes the only reference to this lack, but it makes the point,
loud and clear, “Had there been even an apology for a fire engine there
isn’t a question but the flames could have been extinguished here.” The
new fire department was organized and equipped within weeks of the
Gambee House fire. And that organization made the difference in 1916
when the Mill burned.

The
last fire depicted in the 2007 calendar, is the February 1939 fire at
the former Hotel Robinson. Newspaper styles had changed considerably by
then and a single two-line headline proclaimed, “M.S. Wiggins’ Building
Nearly Ruined by Fire.” This fire, noted as the first serious fire in
eleven years, “broke out shortly after four o’clock last Thursday
afternoon, February 16.” The blaze, at the Wiggins store and gas
station, started near the boiler in the basement and spread so rapidly
that the building, an old land mark, seemed doomed. The three-story
structure was filled with smoke and no attempt could be made to remove
anything from the first floor business places or the living quarters on
the second floor.” The residences on the second floor were empty, and
Dr. Thompson left his second floor dental offices through the front
window to the porch and down a ladder to Main Street.

Mutual
aid from Trumansburg and Ovid fire companies arrived and at one time
seven streams of water were being poured into the building. The fire was
the first real test of the village water system, and “unquestionably,
without an unlimited supply of water the building would have burned to
the ground and adjoining structures probably would have been destroyed.”
The fire fighters were hampered therefore not by a lack of water, but by
the cold weather. “…ice forming on ladders, making climbing very
hazardous. The roof, covered with snow and ice, helped to keep the
flames in, but also made treacherous footing for firemen working there.”
Snow on the roof and surrounding areas is visible in the picture taken
the day after from the roof of the Saddlery building across the street.

As in
the past, we are all grateful for the efforts of the volunteers who
still respond to the call of “fire!”